Recovering unreadable Zip disk

[Arden]

Yay, this is my 100th post! But anyway...

Recently, one of my 100 MB Zip disks became unreadable and I have no idea why. In 9 (on multiple computers), it asks me if I want to initialize or eject it. In X.2, it does the same, but it at least gives me a chance to try to repair it, which does nothing. Disk Utility says "Keys are out of order" and that I need to repair the disk, which does nothing discernible. I don't want to erase the Zip because I have stuff on there which I want back, but I'm not sure how to recover it. Any suggestions?

[edX]

i'm not sure, but i think the manufacturer will try to save your data if it is that important. i've never tried this, but i have a small stack of such zip disks (all made by iomega). none of them had things that weren't irrecoverable or of great importance to me, so i've never bothered. i know they claim they will replace the disk if you send it in. these days you could probably about buy a new disk for the cost of the postage though.

also, one trick that has worked for me on a few occassons - taking your fingers and moving the disk around a wee bit. lifting it up, pushing it down, moving to left, right, etc. sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. if it does, immediately copy off the contents of the disk and then trash it. most times it won't even take a reformat. and you're only likely to damage your drive in the process. since i stopped using anything made by iomega (i use a vst drive & other manufacturers disks), i've stopped having this problem.

[Arden]

The disk is Maxell and it doesn't have anything critical to my functioning or well-being, but I would like to recover it just the same.

I will try fingering (!) it and seeing if it has any defects; however, I don't know if it's worth it or not to send it in. There are services such as Zipdisk.net, but I don't want to pay $100 for something that's not crucial and I don't know if Maxell will charge me for it.

Would you suggest any of this for a failed hard drive?

[Arden]

Techtools Pro is a godsend. I ran it on the Zip and it mounted long enough for me to recover all the data, so I can safely format it now. Thanks anyway for the help.

[Cheryl]

I've used Norton Utilities to save a disk, floppy and zip. Open Norton, click on disk doctor, then insert the disk. If the disk doctor can't fix it, click on rescue. You can get your files, save them to your hard drive, then reformat the disk if it can be reformated.

[Arden]

Thanks... I personally don't use Norton, and Techtools fixed the disk so I don't have to reformat (probably), but I know how to use Norton also. Thanks anyway.

[Natobasso]

Zip disks are good only for transferring files. Due to the "click of death" and the problem you are describing, I wouldn't ever store anything I cared about on them for any amount of time. You already know all of this, I know. Make the "switch" to cds. They have their own problems but are cheaper and can store more than zip disks. Doesn't matter to me much that zip has a 700MB disk...same click of death thing.

congrats on your 100th post! I am getting there...

[Arden]

Originally posted by Natobasso
Zip disks are good only for transferring files. Due to the "click of death" and the problem you are describing, I wouldn't ever store anything I cared about on them for any amount of time. You already know all of this, I know. Make the "switch" to cds. They have their own problems but are cheaper and can store more than zip disks. Doesn't matter to me much that zip has a 700MB disk...same click of death thing.

Thanks a bundle... I've been trying to convince my dad to get me a (Firewire) burner for my room, but he hasn't so far... And I know Iomega has a 750 MB Zip drive too, but it doesn't write to 100's (which almost all computers in this house have) and I already have a 250 drive. Plus, the disk is working now, so this thread can quietly die and it'll be alright.

congrats on your 100th post! I am getting there...

LOL, thank you... At the time of this writing, that's exactly where you are, and I'm way past that (this is 166 I think).